Genetic Algorithm

optimization for fitness function

fitness function may not necessarily be the target optimization problem, often it’s the output of a system where the fitness being evaluated.

the system can be viewed as a black box where the detail of the working mechanism is unknow.

for example given a set of training examples, and a neural net work, we can view it as a system.

the input of the system is the weights for each neuron, and the output of the neurons are the result of the system.

the fitness function can be a error between the training example and the neuron output when a particular weight inputs is applied.

but for the case of neuron network, we can extracted information of the system by varying our input (weights) to the system.